[pct-l] JMT finish

[Mike Welch]

Congratulations, David.  I've been on my own quest since 2006 having first completed the JMT twice, once in 2006 and then in 2008 with my son.  I then was hooked and kept hiking North each Summer.  A year ago, May, I completed my first section in Southern California.  I was detoured off the section I was on in Northern Washington State this August at Suaittle River and was not able to get back on due to the closing of Highway 20 so made my way to Seattle and flew home (back to Alaska).  So I have about 450 mile left in California and 100 miles to the Canadien Border in Washington State.  The memories I have of the people I've met and the wilderness I've hiked through are some of the sweetest of my life.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  You can't fully appreciate this until your out there on the trail, and then you understand.  mountain mike
--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 9/9/15, David Hough on pct-l <pcnst2001 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

 Subject: [pct-l] JMT finish
 To: "Pct List" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
 Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 4:13 PM
 
 Although I hiked the complete PCT in
 sections from 2001-2013, I did not finish the JMT until this
 year.
 I had been missing certain sections between Little Yosemite
 and Sunrise, Thousand Island Lake and Reds Meadow,
 and from the PCT via Crabtree Meadow to the junction with
 the Whitney trail.    
 
 
 I finally finished that last piece Sunday, and revisited the
 Whitney summit for good measure.
 The contrast between the trail from Crabtree to the Whitney
 Trail, and the Wnitney Trail itself, was
 striking.     The latter is a freeway of
 ill-prepared tourists arriving at the summit even later than
 me.
 There are places on the trail that stink of urine. 
    There are places on the trail that are a
 little dicey
 for casual tourists, as the trail through some of the steep
 talus was probably difficult to construct in
 1928-30 (according to the summit plaque) and must be
 difficult to maintain.     There are a
 few slippery
 spots with minor exposure.     I was
 glad to be done with it.   It took me 14
 hours from Crabree, but I'm old and slow.
 
 
 Interesting point about the west approach.    If
 you camp at Crabtree, you can use the toilet there instead
 of carrying a waste bag.    If you shorten your
 summit day by camping at Guitar Lake or the tarns above, you
 are supposed
 to use a waste bag and carry it out with you, which means
 Kearsarge or Horseshoe or worse.     I
 think you're
 supposed to keep it in your bear can
 too...   so I camped at Crabtree and enjoyed
 milder weather.
 Maybe you can dump your bag at Crabtree's toilet on your way
 out?
 
 This late in the season, the PCT was in good shape. 
   Only one tree down, near Poison Meadow, with twin
 12" trunks across the trail - but easily bypassed by stock.
 
 Chicken Spring Lake looked pathetic with an orange bathtup
 ring and no outlet stream.
 Guyot Creek was completely dried up and looked to have been
 that way for months.    Definitely not
 perennial any more.
 
 The Rough Fire smoke was very irritating from Onion Valley
 to Forester Pass.   One reward for the pain
 of going over Forester was mostly clear skies on the other
 side.
 _______________________________________________
 Pct-L mailing list
 Pct-L at backcountry.net
 To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
 http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
 
 List Archives:
 http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
 All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
 Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.